Posts Tagged ‘Evictions’

We are now aware of 26 co‑op eviction decisions released by the LTB. Of those, we know that 17 settled at the Case Management Hearing stage. Case Management Hearings are conducted primarily in person, but also by telephone on occasion. Our experience at Case Management Hearings has been a positive one – the parties have come prepared to agree to repayment terms with an understanding of the consequences to co‑op members who default. Unfortunately, across the province the LTB has reported that two of the settlements have failed; in those cases, co‑op members who have agreed to settlements did not fulfil their terms and have been evicted as a result. But as far as we know the remaining 15 settlements are in place and working to keep co-op members back on track with payments.

The Landlord and Tenant Board has just issued its first co‑op eviction decision resulting from a full Merits Hearing. The case was heard on October 17, 2014. We attended with witnesses on behalf of our Co‑op client; the Co‑op member also attended. The arrears in this case were large and resulted from the revocation by the Co‑op of a subsidy. LTB Member, Sylvia Watson, heard evidence from both sides and ruled in favour of the Co‑op. Significantly, Member Watson agreed with the Co‑op that Section 203.1 of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) prevents the LTB from deciding or reviewing decisions about the eligibility for or the amount of subsidy. She also relied on section 94.9 of the RTA which says that the LTB “shall not inquire into or make any determination as to whether the member’s membership and occupancy rights were properly terminated under section 171.8 of the Co-operative Corporations Act.” These are both important sections of the Act for co‑ops and co‑op members to keep in mind in this new world for co‑op evictions. As noted in the order, the Co‑op member intends to appeal this eviction decision to Divisional Court. Stay tuned here for the final outcome.

A quick update to our post from Friday: Forms and information about the new co-op eviction process are now up on the Landlord and Tenant Board website. As always, we’re here to help should you make the difficult decision to evict one of your members.

The recently introduced bill related to co-op housing eviction reform included something new: an amendment to the Residential Tenancies Act that would allow the Landlord and Tenant Board to waive or defer application fees charged to low-income Ontario tenants.

This seems to have caught everyone off-guard including the PC housing critic who expresses his concern that while the filing fee is nominal, $45, this change could lead to an increase in tenant applications on an already over burdened system. Read the rest of this entry